Brasserie Zentral, Spoon and Stable are doing brunch

Easter is in less than three weeks, and brunch reservations are filling up, fast.

Just in time for the holiday, two top-performing Minneapolis restaurants are dipping into Sunday brunch for the first time: Brasserie Zentral and Spoon and Stable. Both will begin Sunday-only service on March 22.

"We figured, hey, it's starting to get nice out, so let's give up our Sundays and start doing brunch," said Zentral chef/co-owner Russell Klein with a laugh.

Along with omelets and Benedicts, Klein is promising yeasted Belgian waffles.

"They're light and crispy and they're just delicious," he said. "I'm a waffle guy, and I've never done them in a restaurant before, because they're such a pain. But they're delicious."

Don't believe him? Take a weekday morning taste-test. The waffles are getting a preview at Cafe Zentral, the restaurant's skyway-level breakfast-lunch counter.

Other items include a Dutch baby-style pancake with apples, hot out of the cast-iron pan, and schnitzel with a fried egg and caper butter.

Zentral brunch is served 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. "We may add Saturday brunch in the fall," said Klein.

Meanwhile, at Spoon and Stable, chef/owner Gavin Kaysen is offering a hash brown spin on the Juicy Lucy, red wine-poached eggs with wild mushrooms, dill-cured salmon with a bagel-style flat bread, cottage cheese and horseradish, and other a la carte items, all falling in the $8-to-$19 range.

Pastry chef Diane Yang will be preparing seasonal sweets, and bartender Robb Jones has crafted a number of $8 brunch cocktails. Spoon and Stable brunch is served 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.